VANDER STRAETEN, CHARLES

(1771-1834)

Nothing definitive is known about the early life andeducationof Charles Vander Straeten, who was born in Brussels on 14 June 1771. Appointed architect to KingWilliam I, he was commissioned to design a fitting residence for the sovereign of the Kingdom of the Netherlands following an open competition in which the winner, Joseph Henri of Dinant, had died on 3 February 1820. The king had chosen the town house on the place desPalaisthat Vander Straeten transformed into thePalais Royal, which he completed in 1826.

An exponent of neoclassicism, then in vogue, Vander Straeten was also commissioned to design thePalais des Académiesand a chateau for Crown PrinceFrederickinTervuren, which burned in 1879. The author of plans for the boulevard duRégent, he completed work on the Cathédrale desSaints-Michel-et-Guduleand designed the town-hall ofIxelles. He also laid out the commemorative battlefield atWaterloo.

Bitter at the accession ofTilman-François Suysto the post of architect to the Dutch king, Vander Straeten hoped for a return to favor under the new monarchy of an independent Belgium. Disappointed when that failed to happen, he died disillusioned in Ixelles on 17 June 1834.